Schools will have guidelines to prohibit activities contrary to educational purposes

The Ministry of Education announced this Friday, March 6th, the creation of a working group to develop guidelines so that directors can prohibit activities contrary to educational purposes, following the presence of influencers in schools.

The working group, coordinated by the Deputy Secretary of State for Education, Alexandre Homem Cristo, includes other representatives from the Ministry of Education, Science and Innovation (MECI), directors and those in charge of education.

The team must present its conclusions by the end of March, and it is up to them to produce guidelines “relating to the control and prohibition of the development of activities contrary to the purposes pursued by educational institutions”.

In the order released this Friday, which awaits publication in the Official Gazette of the Union, Minister Fernando Alexandre justifies the decision by pointing out the “growing diversity of initiatives” promoted in schools and without pedagogical framework that give rise to “situations likely to affect the integrity, neutrality and security of the school space”.

The government official refers, specifically, to the cases reported by the Público newspaper of 79 public schools that received, in the last two academic years, digital influencers who promote sexual and misogynistic content, as part of campaigns by student associations.

Following the Público report, the General Inspectorate of Education and Science opened an investigation into the two school directors mentioned by the newspaper.

According to Fernando Alexandre, the reported cases reveal the need to “clarify the criteria applicable to the admission of these presences in schools and the authorization to carry out activities that violate the values ​​of democratic citizenship”.

The Minister of Education also considers that the responsibilities of management bodies must be highlighted, in particular school directors who – writes Fernando Alexandre – are responsible for managing the facilities and ensuring that schools comply with “the principles of public ethics, institutional neutrality and the values ​​of democratic citizenship”.

On Wednesday, Fernando Alexandre reported the intention of creating this working group and explained, at the time, that the objective is for “directors who have more doubts about how they should act in these circumstances” can “protect the school space from the entry of entities or individuals who do not have the legitimacy to enter and who disrupt the educational process and the training of children and young people”.